The ARD International Music Competition (German: Internationaler Musikwettbewerb der ARD) is the largest international classical music competition in Germany. It is organised by the Bayerischer Rundfunk and is held once a year in Munich, usually in September. Since its inception in 1952, it has become one of the most prestigious classical music competitions. In 1957, it became one of the founding members of the World Federation of International Music Competitions.
Between 1947 and 1950, the Radio Frankfurt held a "Young Soloists Competition". The earliest competition discovered two female vocalists who would soon take their place among the international talented: Christa Ludwig and Erika Köth. Instrumentalists included flautist Karlheinz Zöller and pianist Robert-Alexander Bohnke. The newly founded ARD continued the concept of bringing together talented young musicians from the entire globe.
The competition categories change from year to year and include solo instrumentsm voice and chamber ensembles. An emphasis has been placed on modern music, and contemporary composers have regularly been commissioned to write new pieces for this Competition since 2001.
350 to 450 young musicians usually apply each year, out of whom 200 candidates, from 35 to 40 countries, make it past the preliminary round. A large percentage of competitors come from countries other than Germany (up to 86%).
Piano competition had been held almost uninterruptedly from 1952 to 1973, except the years 1955 and 1964. It was then held every other year till 1981. It was held consecutively from 1981 to 1983, and then every other year again till 1999.
In 1953, three categories were added: violin, flute, violin-piano duo. Violin competition was held every 3 years from 1966 to 1984.
Four categories were added in 1954: voice, oboe, bassoon, clarinet. The voice competition had been held every year from 1954 to 1972. It was then held every two years till 2000. Oboe competition had been held every five years from 1976 to 1996. Bassoon competition had been held six times in the 20th century.
The competition kept expanding categories in the following years, adding piano duo (1955), horn (1956), cello (1957), organ (1957). New categories in 1958 were cello-piano duo, trumpet, and harpsichord, which would only have three additional editions. String quartet competition opened in 1959.
The 1960s saw the first edition of piano trio (1961), viola (1962), trombone (1965), wind quintet (1966). Two categories briefly appeared: string trio (1961, 1969) and piano sight-reading (1963, 1965). Four categories premiered in the 1970s: guitar (1976), percussion (1977), double bass (1979), and recorder, which was only held twice so far (1978, 1988). The first harp competition was held in 1983, as its only edition in the 20th century.
2nd Prizes (shared): Van Baerle Trio, Netherlands, with Public Prize; Trio Karénine, France, with Prize for the Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Work
2014
Percussion
1. Prize: Simone Rubino (Italy), Public Prize, Brüder Busch Prize
2. Prize: Alexej Gerassimez (Germany), Special Prize for the Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Work
1. Prize: Emalie Savoy (USA), Special Prize "Orpheus", Special Prize GENUIN classics
2. Prize: Sooyeon Lee (South Korea), Public Prize
3. Prize: Marion Lebegue (France), Special Prize for the Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Work
Bärenreiter-Urtext-Prize: Jae Eun Park (South Korea)
Trombone
1. Prize: Michael Buchanan (Great Britain), Public Prize
2. Prize: Jonathan Reith, (France)
3. Prize: Guilhem Kusnierek (France)
Special Prize of Mozart Gesellschaft München: Juan González Moreno (Spain), Semifinal
Special Prize for the Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Work: José Milton Vieira Leite Filho (Brasil)
Piano Duo
1. Prize: Alina Shalamova & Nikolay Shalamov (Bulgaria/Russia), Public Prize, Special Prize for the Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Work, ifp-Musikpreis
2. Prize: Duo Ani und Nia Sulkhanishvili (Georgia)
2. Prize: Duo ShinPark (South Korea)
3. Prize: Piano Duo Lok Ping & Lok Ting Chau (Hong Kong)
Bärenreiter-Urtext-Prize: Piano Duo Chen – Armand (France/South Korea), Semifinal
Special Prize U21: Piano Duo Chen – Armand (France/South Korea), Semifinal
Flute
1. Prize: Sébastian Jacot (Switzerland ), Special Prize from Münchener Kammerorchester, Brüder-Busch-Prize, Osnabrücker Musikpreis
2. Prize: Francisco López Martín (Spain), Public Prize, Special Prize for the Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Work, BR-KLASSIK Online-Prize
1. Prize: JeungBeum Sohn, South Korea, Henle-Urtextpreis
2. Prize: Fabian Müller, Germany, Public Prize, Brüder-Busch-Prize, Henle-Urtextpreis, Special Prize GENUIN classics
3. Prize: Wataru Hisasue, Japan, Special Prize for the Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Work, Henle-Urtextpreis
Guitar
2. Prize: Junhong Kuang, China, Public Prize, ifp-Musikpreis
2. Prize: Davide Giovanni Tomasi, Italy/Switzerland
3. Prize: Andrey Lebedev, Australia, Special Prize for the Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Work
Oboe
2. Prize: Kyeong Ham, South Korea, BR-KLASSIK Online-Preis
2. Prize: Thomas Hutchinson, New Zealand, Special Prize for the Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Work
2. Prize: Juliana Koch, Germany, Public Prize, Osnabrücker Musikpreis
2018
Voice
1st Prize: Natalya Boeva, Russia
2nd Prize: Milan Siljanov, Switzerland
3rd Prize: Mingjie Lei, China
3rd Prize: Ylva Sofia Stenberg, Sweden
Trumpet
1st Prize Selina Ott, Austria
2nd Prize: Célestin Guérin, France
2nd Prize: Mihály Könyves-Tóth, Hungary
3rd Prize: (not awarded)
Piano Trio
1st Prize: Aoi Trio, Japan
2nd Prize: (not awarded)
3rd Prize: Trio Marvin, Kazakhstan / Russia / Germany
3rd Prize: Lux Trio, Korea
Viola
1st Prize: Diyang Mei, China, Public Prize, Special prize for the interpretation of the commissioned composition, Special Prize by the Munich Chamber Orchestra, Osnabrück Music Prize, Special Prize GENUIN classics
2nd Prize: Yucheng Shi, China
3rd Prize: Takehiro Konoe, Japan
2019
Violoncello
1st Prize: Haruma Sato, Japan
2nd Prize: Friedrich Thiele, Germany
3rd Prize: Sihao He, China
Bassoon
2nd Prize: Andrea Cellacchi, Italy
2nd Prize: Mathis Stier, Germany
3rd Prize: Theo Plath, Germany
Clarinet
1st Prize: Joë Christophe, France
2nd Prize: Carlos Alexandre Brito Ferreira, Portugal
